Should You Watch.TV

One of the reasons this website exists is my fundamental belief that TV archives exist for a reason and just because a show was created a decade or two ago doesn’t mean it should be collecting dust forever.

Enter Fleabag, an early hit on Amazon Prime that I had never seen until 2026 despite it first coming out in 2016 and ending in 2019. Why? I dunno. Life?

In any case, I breezed through it in January and am glad I did…or am I? Let’s find out in this installment of Should You Watch.

How many seasons?

Two. That’s it.

How many episodes?

12

What type of show is it?

A dark comedy bordering on a dramedy with breaking the fourth wall elements.

What year(s)?

2016 (s1), 2019 (s2)

Where to currently find it (as of January 2026)

Amazon Prime.

Who is it for?

Adults in their mid-20s through their 40s: post-college dating age through remembering what that was like.

What’s the commit level (without ads)?

312 minutes which is an easy 5.2 hours. If you skip the credits (79 seconds), that saves you nearly 16 minutes as there’s no real intro theme that takes any time.

Is there a bail out episode?

The first episode is a perfect tone setter for what the show is and turns out to be. If you’re not vibing after that, skip.

Any interesting background in the show’s creation?

Fleabag is based on a one woman show Waller-Bridge first did in 2013 that I now really want to see. According to this article, the idea came from “a challenge by a friend where Waller-Bridge was given the task of creating a sketch for a 10-minute section in a stand-up storytelling night.”

Her sister did the score for the show.

The show was created for BBC Three agreement in an production agreement with Amazon Studios.

I also learned it was remade for French TV.

What’s the reaction been?

The Metacritic score is a 92 while Rotten Tomatoes is 100% from critics and 92% from fans. That’s pretty consistent.

It also won a boatload of awards in its short run, both in England and in the U.S. including four Primetime Emmy wins and six nominations, two Golden Globes and three nominations.

Are there actors the average TV watcher would recognize?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge (to an extent), Olivia Colman, Brett Gelman, Fiona Shaw (guest role), Kristin Scott Thomas (guest role)

What’s the main plot in a sentence?

A admittedly horny woman in London explores single life whilst trying to manage her small and emotionally broken family. (Yes, that’s the first time I have used the word ‘whilst.’)

How about another sentence?

If you were single in a big city for any period of time and were unsuccessfully seeking “the one” and also have a sense of humour, this is for you. (I also used ‘humour.’ I’ll stop now.)

What’s the rewatchability factor?

Low

If you like these shows, you’ll like this one:

Catastrophe, Californication, Veep, Station Eleven

Is this a first or second screen show?

First screen.

Should you watch Fleabag?

It’s an unequivocal yes and that’s after seeing it a decade after it came out. There’s no period piece aging like flip phones or anything so Fleabag still holds up.

It’s a relatively small cast with various guest actors appearing for an episode or two. The big player is Waller-Bridge who is so great at being funny in both a ‘ha ha’ way and tragic way. Even though her actions make her family cringe, the viewer doesn’t. She’s so incredibly likable that you can’t help but root for her.

There’s also several surprise twists that are heartbreaking and further the story along, always dropped at the right time to the right effect.

In case you can’t tell, this is a pretty great show and I’m sad it’s gone 10 years after it ended. But Waller-Bridge called it a day because the series told everything she had to say and it’s hard to be sad about that.